What do you think?
Rate this book
Maiden Over: A sapphic sports romance novella
Two bowlers on rival teams. One broken thumb. One fake date at a wedding.
Bronwyn Skilton would rather be anywhere but at her cousin’s wedding. When was she going to learn to say no to her toxic family? When she ends up seated beside her rival Stacey Carringer on the plane to Sydney, Bron blurts out a foolish solution. Well, it was hardly her fault that Stacey was so bloody gorgeous that it melted her brain.
Agreeing to be Bron’s fake date to a family wedding was not Stacey’s smartest move. She’d had a crush on the older pace bowler forever, and had nearly asked Bron to sign her cast after Bron broke her thumb in their last game. Embarrassing.
The wedding should’ve been awkward. Instead, it leaves Bron bruised and Stacey filled with admiration. And love? No, this was supposed to be fake. When did these real feelings happen?
Bronwyn Skilton would rather be anywhere but at her cousin’s wedding. When was she going to learn to say no to her toxic family? When she ends up seated beside her rival Stacey Carringer on the plane to Sydney, Bron blurts out a foolish solution. Well, it was hardly her fault that Stacey was so bloody gorgeous that it melted her brain.
Agreeing to be Bron’s fake date to a family wedding was not Stacey’s smartest move. She’d had a crush on the older pace bowler forever, and had nearly asked Bron to sign her cast after Bron broke her thumb in their last game. Embarrassing.
The wedding should’ve been awkward. Instead, it leaves Bron bruised and Stacey filled with admiration. And love? No, this was supposed to be fake. When did these real feelings happen?
103 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2025
About the author
Renée Dahlia
78 books78 followersRenée Dahlia is an unabashed romance reader who loves feisty women and strong, clever men. Her books reflect this, with a side-note of awkward humour. Renée has a science degree in physics. When not distracted by the characters fighting for attention in her brain, she works in the horse racing industry doing data analysis. When she isn’t reading or writing, Renée spends time with her partner, four children, and volunteers on the local cricket club committee.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 16, 2026
Right so, this all started because a friend of mine and i were talking about what was hot on booktok these days and we landed on sports romances (e.g. icebreaker).
Ofcourse, my girlfriend is a cricket player. So naturally i wondered if cricket romance books existed. Imagine my surprise when i found out that it not only existed, there was a sapphic version.
This book sucked (with all due respect). It is a glorified smut fanfiction and nothing more. I hated bron with all of my soul, she is everything i hate about women. But it was a fun and horny read like all smut fanfiction usually is.
The cricket in this book was spot on tho (from what i understand), and even the stereotypes were spot on (from what i understand).
Ofcourse, my girlfriend is a cricket player. So naturally i wondered if cricket romance books existed. Imagine my surprise when i found out that it not only existed, there was a sapphic version.
This book sucked (with all due respect). It is a glorified smut fanfiction and nothing more. I hated bron with all of my soul, she is everything i hate about women. But it was a fun and horny read like all smut fanfiction usually is.
The cricket in this book was spot on tho (from what i understand), and even the stereotypes were spot on (from what i understand).
June 29, 2025
Enjoyable book
I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one day which is unusual for me. I love the characters and appreciated the explanation of what cricket is, including the glossary. The characters are well developed and interesting. I got caught up in the book right from the beginning. The only slightly negative thing I have to say is that there were a number of typos, none of which I believe are from the Australian English vs American English difference. I think this author would benefit from a proofreader. Otherwise I loved the book! I will definitely read other books by this author.
I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one day which is unusual for me. I love the characters and appreciated the explanation of what cricket is, including the glossary. The characters are well developed and interesting. I got caught up in the book right from the beginning. The only slightly negative thing I have to say is that there were a number of typos, none of which I believe are from the Australian English vs American English difference. I think this author would benefit from a proofreader. Otherwise I loved the book! I will definitely read other books by this author.
June 23, 2025
I really enjoyed this one - short but lovable!
I received this book through a "one-day-special-offer" earlier this month, not knowing the author - just liked the synopsis. Once I started reading, I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down!
The two main characters (Bron & Stacey) are just great: strong yet with weaknesses, appealing yet shy in their own ways. They are people I'd love to meet.
(I also loved some of the comments that Stacey comes out with and wished I'd had them to hand when witnessing homophobic behaviour directed at friends in the past...)
I received this book through a "one-day-special-offer" earlier this month, not knowing the author - just liked the synopsis. Once I started reading, I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down!
The two main characters (Bron & Stacey) are just great: strong yet with weaknesses, appealing yet shy in their own ways. They are people I'd love to meet.
(I also loved some of the comments that Stacey comes out with and wished I'd had them to hand when witnessing homophobic behaviour directed at friends in the past...)
June 23, 2025
This was a decent story, but it didn't wow me. It was a short story, so it had a rather fast pace that almost made it seem too quick for me. Bron was rather grumpy, Stacey was pure sunshine. The two of them together worked, but because of the pace it seemed to miss a lot of important stuff for us to get to the eventual HEA. I appreciated the authors explanation of cricket at the end. I am curious to watch a match now.
April 8, 2025
3 stars. Meh. This was just fine. Stacey and Bron were okay leads but I wasn’t attached to either of them. The romance between them moved so fast but lacked depth and I didn’t really feel the connection between them. I felt for Bron because her family was trash and I liked Stacey’s mom. She was great but overall this was a quick read but it wasn’t anything amazing or memorable.
July 11, 2025
I could overlook the fact that I know nothing about cricket, so many of these terms went over my head. But then the dialogue felt stilted. And the storyline felt a little rushed. And the relationships were underbaked. And I just didn't get much out of this story as a result.
August 18, 2025
A hot with plot short story, well worth your time.
January 6, 2026
I love their chemistry.
Bron has a lot of issues to work through because of her family, but I also live the fact that Stacy put some of the family in their place.
Bron has a lot of issues to work through because of her family, but I also live the fact that Stacy put some of the family in their place.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews